epergne n : a large table centerpiece with branching holders for fruit or sweets or flowers

Used by Wordwind a couple years ago, but not defined.

Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

'Epergne \['E]`pergne"\, n. [F. ['e]pargne a sparing or saving; a treasury. ``Our ['e]pergne is a little treasury of sweetmeats, fruits, and flowers.'' --Brewer.] A centerpiece for table decoration, usually consisting of several dishes or receptacles of different sizes grouped together in an ornamental design.

An epergne or centrepiece of some kind was in the middle of this cloth; it was so heavily overhung with cobwebs that its form was quite undistinguishable; and, as I looked along the yellow expanse out of which I remember its seeming to grow, like a black fungus, I saw speckled-legged spiders with blotchy bodies running home to it, and running out from it, as if some circumstances of the greatest public importance had just transpired in the spider community.

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